About

I am an American writer and photographer now based in Houston, Texas.

I've been a travel journalist and long term expat, living abroad in Asia, South America, and Europe for a decade before recently moving back to the States. I'm a former columnist for National Geographic Traveller, and my work has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Lonely Planet Magazine, Time Out, USA Today, Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller, and CNN.

My struggles with freelancing (combined with older issues of procrastination and perfectionism) got me into productivity. Since 2013 I've been heavily researching and experimenting with science-based self development, including the subjects of gamification, habit formation, willpower, and grit.

The majority of this website deals with a shift in self development away from the purely motivational to a discipline that treats behavior and skill acquisition as an engineering problem with specific metrics, variables, and graphs. It has personally helped me overcome vast problems with sticking to habits and skills despite living an incredibly chaotic life. It has also allowed me to help out friends and family with their own issues.